Encapsulation of Active Ingredients in Microbeads: Characterization and Effect of Polymer Concentration

Sodium alginate is a natural anionic polymer widely used as an encapsulating agent for bioactive compounds, including polyphenol plant extracts, which has been widely applied in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and food industries to intensify the stability of these bioactive compounds.In this work, alginate and chitosan microbeads were prepared by extrusion and loaded with grape pomace seeds and skin polyphenols. The effect of alginate (1%-2%) and grape pomace extract (2%-4%) concentrations was studied. The grape polyphenols were effectively encapsulated and the microbeads regained a spherical shape 800 µm to 1100 µm in diameter; their morphology was studied by optical microscopy, the additional swelling capacity of the hydrogels of the hydrogels obtained was determined; the increase in alginate quantity with the polyphenols resulted in regular microbeads, with very high encapsulation high encapsulation efficiency (>96%).